THE rutted paths of Rivington Pike provide the real first test of the summer for English cricket’s most talked-about ankle. An hour and a half running with Fred and Rooster in the hills and woods overlooking Bolton confirm that Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, the best all-rounder in the world, should be fully fit and bowling well before the Ashes on July 22 and, if the ECB agrees, he could be playing as a batsman for Lancashire in a fortnight.

There is one eye-watering moment when Flintoff turns his left ankle on the way down. But Flintoff is fine and, if anything, it underlines how strong the ankle has become since the operation on a bone-spur problem on January 30.

“That is the first time Fred’s been running outside since the operation,” Dave “Rooster” Roberts said. “I am pleased with how it’s gone and he’s ready to go on to the next stage. It’s all about getting his left leg fit for bowling. He’s almost there and Peter Gregory (the ECB chief medical officer) will check that out for himself next week.”

Flintoff is greatly encouraged. “Running up those steps up Rivington felt great,” he said. “I’d have not been able to do it two weeks ago.”

It is a gentle run. The next stage is to step up the intensity and have him putting his left ankle under increasing pressure and gradually get him bowling in the nets. Later, in the gym, Flintoff goes through “impact loading” — putting all the strain on one leg. That was Monday. Yesterday, he went sprinting for the first time and tomorrow he and Roberts head for four days of warm-weather training in Desert Springs, Almeira, in Spain.

“That’s the first time he’s combined those drills,” Roberts said. “I’ve had a look (at the ankle) and it looks OK. Until now he’s been cross-training. Basically, he’s been trying to keep his weight down because he has a propensity to put on weight.

“What I think people lose sight of is that this problem has been niggling him since last June or maybe before, so he’s probably been losing a bit of his overall fitness from dragging that around. There’s been a compensation thing going on as well, so the right calf has got bigger and the left calf smaller and he had a slight tear in the right one which held us up.”

Flintoff, 27, and Roberts, 46, do not have the average player and physio relationship. They have been joined at the hip for two months — Rooster was at Fred’s stag party in Budapest last month — with no time for Flintoff to go away after getting married. “He’s had his honeymoon with me,” Roberts said.

If Flintoff is not pulling his weight, Roberts lashes him with some harsh words. “It’s a sixth sense,” Roberts said. “Sometimes he turns up and he’s got a face like a slapped arse and I think what the f*** am I doing here, I’m just a physio, I’ve got to try and motivate him now. Then sometimes he’ll be taking the piss out of me. And we go out. Last week we went on the piss together and there’s nowt wrong with that.”

The previous time I was up Rivington Pike with Flintoff, two years ago, he was beginning a new regime. As the Lancashire physiotherapist, Roberts has known Flintoff for years, but they became close two years ago when Flintoff was sent home from Australia and being pilloried for not getting fit after a hernia operation. Roberts scooped Flintoff up and got him fit over Christmas for the 2003 World Cup with his brand of “Bolton basics”.

“The difference this time is that I’ve been with Rooster from the start,” Flintoff said.

But when will he know if he is ready for Test cricket? “When he’s bowled without trouble in both innings for Lancashire,” Roberts said. “If that means missing the one-day internationals (from mid-June to mid-July), so be it.

Flintoff said: “If you think of my workload over the past two years, I think it’s important I am fully fit going into the Ashes. It’s important I have bowled those sort of overs before we start. I’ve got to get into the best shape of my life, I’ve never played against Australia in a Test match and I want to give myself the best chance to do well for the side.”

Roberts is being paid by the ECB for this individual attention, but he chooses his clients. “I enjoy dealing with not straightforward characters,” he said, “Fred is not straightforward. (Ian) Botham (who nicknamed him Rooster) was not straightforward. I enjoy that challenge from a personality point of view.

“Clinically, Fred’s not straightforward because of his build and his bowling action, but he’s also got a bit of bollocks about him, a bit of spunk, which makes you want to help him doing what he’s capable of doing. I am very aware of the cricket-specific nature and I think Fred knows that and he appreciates that I’ve got a knowledge of cricket.”

After a long pause, Roberts says suddenly, “You’re not going to stop him going on the piss”, and Flintoff bursts out laughing.

Never one to shout about himself, Flintoff says his piece. “I’m a 27-year-old bloke and I like a pint now and then, and the way I am, maybe sometimes I do get misunderstood because I am quite chilled out,” he said. “But fires burn inside, I’m determined to play against Australia, I want to win the Ashes. That’s why I’m getting up at half-six and driving over to Rivington and freezing my bollocks off up that hill.”

ROAD TO REHABILITATION

THE INJURY

“He had a posterior spur, which is quite unusual. Footballers tend to have them at the front,” Roberts said. “Fred has his at the back and where he lands the spur was digging into the Achilles tendon and soft tissue. That was only ever going to get worse.”

THE OPERATION

Posterior impingement decompression.

THE RECOVERY (this week):

Monday: One and a half hours running/walking up to and down Rivington Pike to test the ankle on an uneven surface.

In the gym: One hour of racketball against Roberts. Impact loading on left leg, hopping from step box to wobble board; four sets of 20 sit-ups on big balance ball; 4 x 15 sit-ups with 5kg medicine ball; 4 x 15 of light bench press.
In the pool: Half an hour running in water. (Gentle hydrotherapy at Blackburn Rovers’ training ground was the first thing Flintoff did after the operation.)

Tuesday: Sprints around Rivington Pike. More gym work, “all based around PNF — Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation — re-educating the muscles and joint,” Roberts said. In the nets: Batting.

Wednesday: More running in Rivington. “Walk-through” bowling (only the second time he will have done this).

Thursday to Sunday: Warm-weather training in Spain (sand running and fielding drills, as well as normal gym and pool work)